Russians Continue Syria Air Strikes From Iran

A still image taken from video footage released by Russia's Defense Ministry shows a long-range bomber based in Iran dropping bombs over an unknown location in Syria.

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Russians Continue Syria Air Strikes From Iran

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Russian warplanes conducted air strikes against targets in Syria using aircraft based in Iran for the second straight day.

Russia's Defense Ministry said several Su-34 strike fighters left the Hamadan air field in northwestern Iran to strike targets in Syria's Deir ez-Zor province on August 17, and all aircraft returned safely.

The ministry's statement claimed "more than 150 militants, including foreign mercenaries, were killed."

Meanwhile a source in Russia's Foreign Ministry says Moscow rejects U.S. claims that the Kremlin's decision to conduct air strikes against targets in Syria from a base in Iran violates a UN resolution.

"The American interpretation of the UN Security Council resolution is wrong and perplexing," a Foreign Ministry source told Interfax on August 17.

After Moscow began carrying out the strikes on August 16, U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the operation could violate a resolution banning the provision of combat aircraft to Iran.

The speaker of Iran's parliament, Ali Larijani, said on August 17 that Russia does not have a permanent military base in Iran, but stressed that Iran enjoys "good cooperation with Russia and we say that loud and clear."